We hope that you all are staying healthy and enjoying connecting with your dance friends and faculty in our online classes. It has been uplifting for all of us to see each other and we appreciate this time together each week! Thank you to you all for joining us for this new online journey!

As we continue to follow Governor Northam’s guidelines, Charlottesville Ballet Academy has decided to extend the Academic Year online classes through June 30, 2020. Students will continue in their current Zoom classes through the end of June and all summer classes will be postponed for a later date.

Tuition: Tuition fees for May will be assessed on May 1st. Tuition fees for June will be assessed on June 1st.

First Steps Showcase & CBA Annual Spring Show:

We do still hope to hold our First Steps Division Showcase and Annual Spring Performance. Again these performances will be postponed to dates later in the summer. We are still working on finalizing all dates and details. We will provide you with more information as soon as possible.

Please don’t hesitate to email us with any questions. Continue to stay home, stay well and keep dancing!

We hope all of you are staying healthy and positive as we navigate these tough times as a community. We know that COVID-19 has caused a burden on our community and anxiety for many of us. In an effort to create a sense of normalcy, help our students maintain their skills and a sense of community, and allow for Charlottesville Ballet to continue to pay our amazing faculty, we are happy to announce that we plan to reunite our dance family via online classes!

Weekly academic year classes will resume live (online) during regularly scheduled days/times beginning Saturday, March 28th. Each class will receive a Zoom link with instructions on how to login to your class. Zoom works on ipads, laptops, and even cell phones (however, cell phones are not recommended due to decreased visibility). Students will be able to see and hear their teacher teaching class and if you have a camera, teachers will be able to view students and give immediate feedback to help with progression. *Please note: We are postponing all satellite (including Scottsville classes) and short session classes at this time and will likely resume those classes in the summer.

Dates & Tuition: To make up for the classes missed in March we plan to hold classes during our previously planned week of Spring Break (April 6-11) and also hold normal classes the week of May 24 (instead of dress rehearsals). Tuition fees for April classes will be assessed on April 1st. If you need to drop a class, please notify [email protected] by March 30th, otherwise all accounts will be charged the non-refundable tuition fee with auto-pay on April 1st.

Classes that will NOT be offered online: In order to adhere to and really live out our mission of health and wellness we are not able to offer the following classes due to the heightened risk of injury. We are saddened to see these classes canceled and will restart them once we are able to re-open our physical location. No fees will be assessed for these classes: Pointe 1/2, Pointe 3, & Partnering

Tap Classes: Tap shoes are not required for virtual tap classes. If you don’t have a space in the house where tap shoes can be worn, students can still learn and practice skills in bare feet or other dance shoes. The instructor can still give feedback by watching the movement of the feet.

First Steps Showcase & CBA Annual Spring Show: We recognize that with the constantly changing COVID-19 situation this is an unprecedented time for everyone and a time that for many, is filled with uncertainty. We plan to delay our annual First Steps Showcase & Annual Spring Show and are hopeful we can postpone the performance for sometime in June. We are still working on finalizing dates and will provide you with more information as soon as possible.

Additional Classes: We are open to offering additional classes during the daytime hours if that is preferred by any families. You are also welcome to transfer to a daytime class if that works better for those that are now working from home. If you have any feedback to share with us regarding preferences or other days/times that work best for you, we are open to suggestions. Please email [email protected] if you’d like to provide any feedback to us. Please note that we will need at least 4 students in a class in order to hold the class. We will also soon be offering private lessons via Zoom online, please email [email protected] to be added to our private lesson email list.

Helpful Notes about Virtual Dance Classes:

Don’t worry about cleaning your house! All staff will be teaching from home and there is no judgement on what your new “dance room” (living room, bedroom, hallway..etc) looks like. Please do be sure to remove any objects that could be hazardous during dance classes.

Zoom: Are you new to using this program? Not to worry, we have a team that can help you. We have been working hard the past 2-weeks to make this transition as smooth as possible. We will be sending out additional emails with helpful details and will be hosting several online “Parent Test Meetings” so that you can get comfortable with the Zoom platform and ask questions prior to the start of classes.

This will not be perfect: There will be glitches, and we will still have fun and learn- thank you for partnering with us to provide dance education even in this challenging time.

Financial Aid: COVID-19 has caused a financial impact on our entire community. If you are in need of financial assistance we have simplified the process during this challenging time. Please email Associate Director, Caitlin Lennon: [email protected] for more information.

We hope that this news will excite all students and they will enjoy connecting with their classmates and teachers. We also believe that by keeping up with dance while at home, it will allow us to seamlessly transition back into the studio as soon as it is safe for all of us to be there dancing together again. We are excited to “see” you all soon and will be in touch with how to login for your class(es).

Snow White Performances Postponed!

We are saddened to announce that due to health and safety concerns for our patrons with the spread of the COVID-19 (coronavirus), Charlottesville Ballet will be postponing our performances of Snow White this weekend at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville and the JCC NV in Fairfax. There will also be no rehearsals or dress rehearsals for performers for the Snow White production.

We want to emphasize that there are no known cases announced in our area or at the Charlottesville Ballet, but we are taking these steps purely as a precautionary measure to protect the health and safety of our community.

The Paramount Theater will be sending emails in the coming hours to all Charlottesville Ballet ticket holders with updates and more information. Per the Paramount and Charlottesville Ballet policies, there are no refunds available for rescheduled performances, but we are currently working with our theaters on postponement dates. While we do not have anything finalized at this time, we will notify all patrons once performances are rescheduled.

Thank you for your understanding and support of the arts during this time of public health concern. Stay healthy and well!